Littlest Things
by Slumbering Apparitions
Summary: Derek Souza did not smile. He sneered, scowled, and frowned. God forbid he smirked. But, he did not smile.
1. Chapter 1

Health class had never been one of Chloe's favorite subjects. It was the same thing every year; the only thing that changed was the teachers and the student's faces. You still had the idiots in the class who cracked a joke or snorted every time the teacher said 'Penis' or 'Vagina' and you had the students who could excelled in the class and could name any in every part in the female and male anatomy. Compared to everyone else in the class she was absolutely normal, excluding the fact that she could, you know, see ghosts. Not that anyone knew of course, it's something you could drop on someone in an everyday conversation. Other than that though, she was just a student needing another elective credit for the year.

Having moved past all the sex talk in the class, the teacher decided to drop a project on them that would last until the end of the semester. It consisted of a partner and a life-like baby that needed to be cared for 24/7, the ideal project for a High School student. The class still had four months to go until the first semester ended. The only reason Mr. Davidoff had even thought of a project was because there was absolutely nothing left to discuss that was appropriate for a mixed grades Health Class. He knew he couldn't just leave the class and let them do whatever; he was also the Principal of the school, only filling in for the actual teacher who was on maternity leave.

The class had moaned at the thought of having to take care of something that may not be living, but did indeed make a lot of racket. But, they made even more noise when Mr. Davidoff said he was going to be the one picking the partners. Chloe was a little worried for her grade at that moment, seeing as she had no experience whatsoever with babies or children for that matter.

Chloe glanced around the room trying to look for a familiar face from the back of the classroom. She had never paid attention the first month of class, only turning in her homework and not even bothering to make simple small talk with anyone else. To her disappointment she found that she did not personally know anyone in the class.

Mr. Davidoff made his way to the front of the classroom and set his papers on the podium. "I will now begin calling out the names of partners. After your name is called please come to the front of the room and collect your baby," he motioned to his desk where multiple plastic babies laid haphazardly. "I will hand you one and you will not complain. Do not ask for a specific gender. You will get what I randomly give you. Is that clear?" He didn't even wait for a response from the class before reading off of his list. "Julia and Reggie, Sara and Joseph,"

As the teacher drone on and on, Chloe placed her head onto her fisted hand and looked out the window at the dreary weather. She felt herself begin to zone out and was only shaken out of it when Mr. Davidoff loudly repeated her name for, apparently, the third time. She shook her head and her cheeks colored when she realized that the whole entire class was looking at her with amused expressions. She met the teacher's stern gaze and nodded.

"As I was saying, Chloe and Derek please come to the front of the classroom to collect you baby."

If Chloe's face had been bright red moments before it was a sickly pale color now. She gulped and stood up, slowly making her way to the class where Derek was already standing, having had to wait for her to respond moments prior. She looked up at him as Mr. Davidoff handed her a baby.

"Ah, congratulations on your new baby girl." Mr. Davidoff said with a smile as he shooed them away to their table that they were now supposed to share.

Chloe nearly tripped over herself as she walked over to where Derek had placed his things. He looked up her and glowered. She stammered out an apology and set the baby on the table, trying to avoid his glare.

If there was one thing Chloe had learned in her past year at school it was that Derek Souza did not smile. He sneered, scowled, and frowned. God forbid he smirked. But, he did not smile. He wasn't exactly avoided at in the school hallways, but, he wasn't exactly welcomed by many people. He was a tall looming figure with shaggy black hair and emerald green eyes that stared at you with such a scrutiny it felt that you would shrivel into nothing within a few moments.

And at the moment those scary eyes were focused on her. She swallowed back her sense of dread at the thought of being paired with a boy who some people avoided like the plague. Although she couldn't see why people did such a thing, there wasn't anything wrong with him except for the fact that he was as intimidating as hell. He had a nice face; even though she could Mother Nature had had her fun with him as she examined the tiny acne scars on his face. You couldn't really tell if you weren't looking, not that Chloe was, she was just trying to figure out why people would be so terrified of him.

"Would you stop looking at me like that?" Derek snapped as he pinned her with a fierce glare.

Oh, well that was why. Intimidating as hell and he definitely didn't like people. She opened her mouth to offer an apology, or maybe even tell him off for being a jerk about her examination. Chloe was cut off by a small high pitched cry that came from between them on the table. Their heads turned simultaneously and they stared at the baby.

Derek rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You've got to be kidding me."


	2. Chapter 2

Chloe was pissed. No, she was beyond pissed. The second the bell rang Derek bolted for the door. They hadn't even discussed who was going to take care of the baby. They hadn't made any plans on when they would switch off. After Chloe had soothed the fake infant, which took a very long time, Derek took one look at her and pulled out a book. Chloe had assumed that maybe they would talk about it at the end of class but that was no such luck either. The bell rang and he high tailed it out of the classroom.

She was used to working with partners who didn't want to do anything but work; no friendship, no excessive talking only work. She was completely fine with that. But, she has never had a partner who didn't even communicate with her about anything. To say the least, when she left the class to go to lunch she nearly de-armed the baby because she pulled at her to hard.

When she arrived in the lunchroom Rae and Liz were already there idly chatting away with one another. They looked up in surprise when Chloe all but threw the fake baby down on the table. The other two girls shared a look.

"You do know those have little monitors in them, right?" Rae mumbled around a carrot stick.

Liz nodded. "Yeah, they send all rough handlings and everything to the teacher's computer." She paused and looked at it before letting loose a storm of questions. "Well, what's her name? Who's your partner? Is he hot? I bet he's hot. So?"

Chloe sighed, glanced around the cafeteria, and then looked up at Rae and Liz. "Uh, she doesn't have a name yet. All I'm going to say is that my partner is Derek Souza."

Rae snorted and choked on her carrot. "Oh man, have fun with that. That boy is so antisocial it's not even funny."

"Yeah. I kinda figured that out when he left the classroom without saying a word to me about how we're going to handle this project. Didn't say one word to me. Just glared at me like I was some sort of idiot." Chloe winced when the baby started cry, indicating that something was wrong with her. She glanced into her diaper and decided that she was just hungry. Chloe pulled out a bottle from the baby bag that each couple was issued near the end of class and held it to the infant's mouth.

There was a silence at the table as Chloe calmed the baby. All over the cafeteria you could hear the already frustrated 'parents' going near insane as their babies continuously cried. During Health class one couple received a baby that started crying the second they turned it on and from what Chloe heard it had yet to stop.

"What are you going to do about it? I mean, you can't let him walk all over you and make you do the project?" Liz asked, tilting her head.

Chloe picked up the baby and held her. She grabbed her things and shoved them in bag. "I'm actually going to do something about that right now. If I can find him that is..."

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><p>She looked everywhere she could possibly think of. Except for the Library, it wasn't that she thought he wasn't going to be in there, it was the fact that nobody went in there. At all. It was too creepy and not to mention dusty. The only time a student even thought about venturing in there was to collect a book they desperately needed for a book project or whenever they needed to nap. But, even then people would rather find some empty classroom than resort to going into the Library.<p>

But, Derek was an odd duck so, what the hell? Might as well check it.

The second she walked into the Library she became aware of the eerie silence and the noticeable chill. God forbid there be a ghost in here, she thinks to herself. Chloe walked along the bookshelves and cases hoping to see him lounging around at one of the very dusty tables.

A tinkling laugh erupts from behind her and she swirled around. Nothing except for a rush of cold air. Her arms become covered in Goosebumps as she walks out from behind one set of the cases.

At that moment she hears a male's voice say, "Seriously Derek!" and Chloe knew she had him.

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><p>"Seriously Derek!" Simon exclaimed, looking at his brother with disdain as he marks on Simon's math paper.<p>

"Seriously Simon." Derek continues scratching out Simon's god awful math work out with a red pen.

Simon groans and tosses his head back, mumbling something about how unfair it was to have a genius as a brother.

"I'm not a genius. I'm just advanced..." Derek murmurs, going back to his own work. He stiffens when he hears the sound of tiny footsteps coming toward them.

"Hey, uh, bro. There is a very cute girl, who looks royally pissed, coming our way...With a baby."

Derek rubs his eyes and doesn't even bother turning around. "Goddammit."

Simon snickers. "You know her?"

Closing his book, Derek feels an impatient tap on his shoulder. He turns around seeing Chloe, her face flushed in anger.

The baby starts cooing and she huffs. "Can I borrow you for a second?" She doesn't even let him answer before she's grabbing the back of his shirt, not like it would do anything, and is pulling Derek away from Simon.

His brother looks like he is trying to hold back laughter, his shoulders shaking and his head down. Derek sends a vicious glare his way.

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><p>Chloe dragged Derek behind one of the bookcases. "Look, you may not like me and that's fine, but we have a project that involves us working together so what do you want to do about?"<p>

Derek sighed and glanced over his shoulder, he could hear Simon picking up their things and giggling under his breath. He looked directly at Chloe, "Fine. Come over to my house tomorrow." He pulled a piece of paper out from his pocket and started jotting down his address, hoping to get this meeting over with as soon as possible.

"Okay, that sounds fi-" Derek glanced up and saw that all of the color had drained from Chloe's face. She was looking over his shoulder as if something was behind him. He checked just to make sure, there wasn't anything whatsoever.

Chloe swallowed and tried to keep her breathing rate normal as a devious looking ghost hovered behind Derek. The ghost's face had a taunting smile on it and she raised an eyebrow, moving one of the books so that is was in mid air above Derek's head. Chloe shook her head quickly and murmured a near silent "No."

Derek's head snapped up and he gave her a look. "What?"

"N-n-n-othing." Her eyes were watching the book floating above his head and the ghost holding it.

Derek looked up and his eyes widened slightly as he saw the book. "What the fu-?" He was cut off as the book dropped onto his face. He shook his head and scrunched his nose up, assessing the damage. It definitely hurt like a bitch, but that could be worried about later.

He glared at Chloe with questioning eyes and she flushed.

"I-I-I'm s-s-orr-"

He cut her off, "Whatever. Just be at my house tomorrow after school." And with that he shoved the piece of paper at her and walked off.

Chloe sneered at the devious ghost who was laughing and stalked out of the library hoping Derek thought the book falling on him was just some freak accident.

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><p><strong>AN: Uh, wow. I really didn't except that many people to like this. It would have been out sooner had I not been distracted by Tumblr.**

**Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed and who has favorited/alerted this story already. I'm thrilled that everyone likes the idea. I guess you could say this _already _a filler chapter, but I needed to get some things done. Like Chloe coming to Derek's house. I have a lot planned for this story. Involving rain, overhearing schemes, and Tori pushing Chloe into something she doesn't want to do _literally. _**

**I'm thinking of writing a short 2/3 chaptered Truth or Dare Chlerek. Let's just say it involves Tori daring Chloe to go out of her box and doing that involves Derek in a very...different way. Would anyone be interested or...?**

**Long author's note, but it was needed. Once again, thank you everyone and I'll see you in the next chapter! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Quick FYI. I might switch tenses because I suck at actually keeping them the same. It's because I don't have anyone look over it except myself before I post~~ hahahehehahaho**

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><p>Walking to Derek's house was the easy part. Going up the walk way was easy, but knocking on his door waiting for someone to answer was complete and utter hell. The second she raised her hand to the wooden door she froze. She felt like an intruder, not used to going to other people's houses for projects- they usually opted for working at her house, which was no problem with Chloe whatsoever. She took a few deep breathes to calm herself and moved her hand to the wood. Before she had any chance to knock the door was flung open and Derek stood in front of her with an eyebrow raised at the gurgling robotic infant in her arms. He moved back and held out an arm, an invitation for her to enter the house.<p>

Chloe put one foot out and paused, looking into the house's hallway. She felt like the Derek's house was a Church and she was a Vampire. Derek had already padded down the hallway and he now turned to look at her. Rolling his eyes he said, "Coming or not?"

She nodded vigorously and quickly stepped into the house, cringing when she felt a shock run through her as she crossed the threshold. Chloe turned around to shut the door and ended up shutting it with too much force, thrown off by the electric shock she received moments prior. Derek turned around to glare at her. Chloe murmured a pitiful 'Sorry' and scurried to catch up with him.

"We're going up to my room." Derek motioned up the stairs and was about to say something else when Simon came into the hallway from, she presumed, the kitchen. He was holding a candy bar and tossed a lazy grin at the taller male.

"Not going to introduce your friend?" Simon's voice had a friendly tone under laced with something else. He reached his hand out for Chloe to shake. Chloe had been surprised for a moment before she remembered that Derek was Simon's adopted brother.

Derek scowled and Simon just smiled a shit eating grin. He reached up, or tried to, and ruffled Derek's hair. "Don't mind him he's not used to be around peopl-Hey!" It was Simon's turn to glare. Derek had taken away Simon's candy bar and was shoving it into his back pocket.

"You know you're not supposed to eat these." Derek stated and Simon just continued to look angry.

"Yeah but-"

Derek sighed and shook his head, as if he couldn't believe Simon was really doing this. "You're diabetic. It's not good."

"Dude!" Simon's voice rose an octave and he shot a look at Chloe, who had been standing there quietly watching the whole charade take place, before setting his jaw and looking back at Derek.

The only reaction he received was a slight shrug from Derek who had turned towards the stairs. Simon frowned and looked at Chloe who cast him a sympathetic look. He made an annoyed sound and stormed back into the kitchen. Chloe looked up the stairs and saw that Derek was waiting for her, his eyes narrowed. She hurried to catch up with him and followed him to his room.

Once they got inside and he closed the door, which Chloe found interesting seeing as parents usually dislike with someone of the opposite sex is in a room with a closed door, Derek cleared his throat. "Ok, what exactly do we need to do?"

Chloe graced him with a look of fury and shoved the baby into his arms, feeling like he should at least hold the thing. "Did you seriously not listen? At all?"

He snorted as if he were above such a mundane thing. "Was I supposed to?"

"I hope that you are kidding." She pulled the papers out of her book bag, sat down on the edge of his bed, and spread them around her. "Alright, firsts things first. We need to fill out the baby information sheet."

"Meaning?" Derek looked down at the baby girl in his arms and wrinkled his nose.

She sighed and read off the check sheet. "Name, date of birth, parent's names, etcetera."

"Well?"

"Well what? You have to elaborate more. Giving me these short replies aren't going to get us anywhere."

Derek's eyes narrowed and he leaned against the wall, glaring at the baby. "What are we going to name it?"

"_It _is a girl and I don't know. What do _you_ want to name her? You should at least have something to do with this project." She snapped at him, feeling that if he got to be rude so did she.

He sneered at her in response. "What about Tyler?"

Chloe blinked at him. "Are you stupid?" He opened his mouth to respond with something snarky. "I told you she was a girl."

Derek murmured something under his breath about Tyler being a girl's name if they wanted it to be. He squinted his eyes down at the baby. "How about...Paisley?"

The baby let out a happy noise when he said the name and Chloe hummed approvingly, shocked that he had come up with a good name in only one two tries... "I...like it. Paisley it is." She jotted down the name and read the next question. "Date of birth?"

"Just put down the day we got her that way we don't have to actually think of a made up date."

To her surprise Chloe giggled and wrote it down. They continued to fill out all of the papers that would be due in a span of the few days that remained in the school week. Derek ended up feeding Paisley. Every time she made a noise he looked about ready to throw the child on the floor. Chloe thought that maybe he hadn't expected the baby to act and feel so real.

"How have you put up with this these past two days?" Derek asked bitterly when Paisley wouldn't stop crying.

Chloe was going to respond but the door was flung open by a very angry looking Tori, Simon's half sister. "Derek," She sneered, "Will you please shut that thing up!" Tori pointed menacingly at the baby who was shrieking in his arms. If there was anyone that could give Derek a run for his money in the scary department it was definitely Tori. Chloe laughed under her breath at the fact that Tori was threatening Derek. Tori turned her burning gaze on Chloe and she stopped laughing.

"Tori get out of my room." Derek scowled at her when she looked about ready to argue with him. "Out. Now."

She gave him a poisonous look and stalked out of his room, slamming the door behind her. Chloe burst out giggling and Paisley stopped crying to join in. She made happy baby noises and burbled up at Derek who, much to Chloe's surprise, wasn't sending her death rays with his eyes. He just looked at the baby and her and sighed.

Chloe stood up and walked over to the door, every few seconds she felt a few more giggles bubble from her mouth. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom."

Derek nodded without looking up, having returned his attention back to Paisley. "Down the hall, to the right."

She followed his instructions and passed Simon who was coming up the stairs. "Derek still in his room?"

"Yeah, he's messing with the baby." Chloe replied and continued down the hallway to the bathroom. She did in her business and washed her hands. It was obviously the boy's bathroom because they didn't have any floral smelling soap. That and because there were boxers hanging over the bar above the bathtub. She wrinkled her nose and tried to ignore the boy items. Chloe looked in the mirror and noted that her mascara was smudged a bit on the sides of her eyes from laughing so hard. It wasn't anything noticeable, so she decided she would leave and go back to Derek's room.

As she was walking back she hears Simon raising his voice at Derek.

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><p>"You haven't gotten anything/ out of her?"

Derek's reply was sarcastic. "Yes Simon, I'm just going to drop a bomb like that on her. Tell her she's a Necromancer. Hell, are we even sure she is?"

Simon barked out a laugh. "You were pretty damn sure yesterday after a /floating/ book dropped on your face!"

"Goddammit Simon, lower your voice. I can hear her coming." Derek's eyes narrowed as he heard the steps down the hall get slower and slower. She was trying to listen in on their conversation. He couldn't blame her to be honest, Simon had been yelling and it was obvious that they were talking about her.

"Are you going to tell her about you?" Simon asked, headed to the door, and gave Derek a look, indicating that he intended to go further with this conversation. "Tori's putting a silencing spell on your room by the way."

"Yes, Simon. Of course I'm going to tell her." Derek's tone was laced with sarcasm. "She probably won't even believe me when I tell her what _she _is."

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><p>Chloe stood silently out in the hall. Necromancer? What the hell was that and why did they think she was one? Why were they talking about her? They had mentioned the book incident yesterday. Chloe paled at the thought of them knowing about her seeing ghost. She was pulled out of her reverie by a clearing of a throat.<p>

Tori stood half way out of room. "Just an FYI, Derek has really good hearing." She stated knowingly and shut her door, leaving Chloe to stand there with a confused look on her face, wondering what Tori had meant.

She shrugged it off and continued to Derek's room, twisting the knob. She was greeted by a blazing grin from Simon as he scooted around her. "Sorry for intruding on your work space. I just need to talk to Derek." Simon looked at his brother and narrowed his eyes. He continued down the stairs without looking back.

Chloe walked into Derek's room. She noticed that he had set Paisley in the middle of his bed and he was continuously running his fingers through his dark hair. She rubbed the back of her neck and exhaled. They had completed their work for the week so there was nothing left to do but care for Paisley.

"I should probably go..?" She said it as a question wondering if he needed her to stay around for something else. Chloe reached down for the baby bag but Derek grabbed her elbow to stop her. Chloe turned her head slowly to give him a confused look.

He snatched his hand back and looked at it. He muttered a sorry. Chloe nodded and continued to pack up her things. "Hey Chloe?"

She stopped once again. "Yeah?"

Derek took some time to respond, looking at Paisley. "Leave the baby."

Chloe looked at him with wide eyes. "What?"

Derek smirked. "You heard me, leave the baby."

"I-I-I..." She flushed when she started stuttering. She just couldn't believe what he had said. She stopped and breathed in. "Uh, alright. I...er. I'm going to go now." She looked around the room and picked up her book bag, leaving the baby bag for Derek to use. Derek didn't even bother with walking her out of the house, he had already picked up Paisley and was content with giving his attention to her; which involved him staring at her with a confused look on his face.

Once Chloe was outside, the most important part of the situation hit her.

Derek Souza had smirked.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Same warning as last chapter. I'm sorry for the wait. On top of going on vacation and feeling like hell I've already got a horrid case of writer's block. I know where I'm going, I'm just having difficulties getting there. Sorry for the half assed chapter. I did try, but from what I've read it's not all that grand. :| If you guys want to follow me on tumblr and talk just tell me in a review or message and we can talk~~**

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><p>Derek ended up keeping the baby for two days. Chloe finally made him fork Paisley over because she was worried if he was actually taking care of her. According to Simon, he was, but Chloe wasn't going to take his word for it. She was still flabbergasted as to why he would even want to take care of the baby.<p>

Today is Friday and it is the end of the first week of the project. In class they will present their child and tell the rest of the students his or her name, how the baby is reacting to everything, and whether or not it is a happy baby that sleeps through the night and rarely cries or if it a screamer. Rarely there is an in-between; the teachers _love_ to see their students squirm.

From what Chloe has observed from her and Derek's baby is that Paisley is one of the rare in-between children. When she gets fussy she throws a tantrum, but she usually sleep peacefully. Her moods change rapidly and on some days she's happier than others. Paisley moods are almost those of a teenager and not the feelings of a computer controlled infant.

Chloe was sitting at their assigned table and tapped her fingers on the table top, waiting for Derek to enter the classroom. The tardy bell had already rung but Mr. Davidoff nor was Derek anywhere to be seen. Just as Chloe was about to abandon all hope, Derek stumbled into the room with Paisley placed in the corner of his arm and elbow. The baby bag's top was open and the inside contents looked like they had been shoved in there haphazardly. The classroom went silent as Derek stormed over to the table. Paisley, Chloe could tell from her gurgling, seemed happy enough.

Derek put a fluffy baby blanket on the table top between them and placed Paisley on it. He sat down with a huff, faced the front of the classroom, and scowled at the air in front of him. Chloe sat up in her chair and stuck a pacifier in Paisley's mouth when she heard the warning high pitched noise that came from her mouth.

She raised an eyebrow. "Um?"

Derek's scowl deepened. "Do not even ask."

"Whatever you say, as long as Paisley is safe and here."

Mr. Davidoff ended up not being able to show up to class at all and seeing as how he was the class' long term sub -and on top of that school had already started- they had no time to call in a sub for the long term sub. Everyone in the class had been asked to put all of their baby papers on his desk and they were allowed a free period.

Chloe and Derek, not knowing what to do with their time, sat in the empty classroom for five minutes staring at each other. They were only roused from their silent stare off when Paisley decided that she didn't like the noiseless atmosphere.

"Goddammit." Derek growled. He reached for the infant, but Chloe had already placed Paisley over her shoulder and was cooing sweet nothings to its computerized brain.

Chloe coughed and chose her words wisely. "Why do you bother with being angry all the time?"

Derek reached down to grab his bag and the baby's. His chair screeched as he stood up and he glanced down at Chloe with a blank stare. "Makes me people leave me alone." With a shrug he walked from the classroom.

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><p>The lunchroom was bustling with people when Chloe walked in. Paisley had spent the remainder of the morning gurgling into Chloe's ear and being a, mostly, happy baby. That left Chloe to actually be able to do her work and not have to receive dirty looks from her teachers. Although the baby project was a well known at the school, the students with cranky babies still had to endure all of their snarky comments and rude looks.<p>

Chloe sat down at her lunch table and put her head down. Liz was already munching on some baked potato chips she had brought from home and Rae was standing in front of the lunch line waiting for the doors to be open. If there was one thing those two girls loved it was getting to lunch early just so they could get their food and talk. Boy, did they love to gossip. Sometimes Chloe wondered how they all became friends but then she realizes that they're great people and it doesn't matter.

"How's the project going?" Liz licked the salt off of one of the chips and crunched on it.

Chloe sighed and pulled out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "Pretty good considering I have the most anti-social partner." She blew all the breath out of her body and puffed her cheeks.

"I'm not sure what you mean seeing as your partner, along with his siblings are coming over right now."

Her reaction was to shoot straight up. "What?"

Rae decided to sit down at that moment. "Care to tell me why Mr. Big and Scary and his brother and sister as coming our way?"

There was a moment of silence at the table and Chloe groaned when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and offered Simon a forced grin.

Tori raised an eyebrow and threw her bag onto the table on the spot next to Liz. She offered a friendly 'Hello' to the other girls and then turned to Chloe with a sardonic twist of her lips. "Chloe it looks like you've seen a _ghost_."

Chloe face had paled moments before but now she flushed. "I-I-I-"

Derek sneered at his sister but he gave Chloe a similar comment. "Wouldn't want another book incident, now would we?"

Her eyes narrowed and she leaned forward to whisper venomously. "No need to be an _asshole_." She shot out of her seat and grabbed the back of Derek's shirt, pulling him away from everyone else. "I need to talk to you, _privately_." She tossed a reassuring smile at the surprised lunch table.

Rae and Liz shared a look as Chloe walked off with Derek following behind her. "The hell was that about?" Rae asked as she pulled her hair to the side.

Now it was Simon and Tori's turn to stare at each other, except theirs involved a secretive smile. "No reason." They replied unanimously.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Always the same warning. My favorite thing about posting is hearing everyone's theories and ideas omg they are so wonderful! Hi, my name is Kelley and you may love me or hate me after this chapter.**

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><p>"What in the hell was that all about?" Chloe had dragged Derek into the library and into the darkest corner where everything was even dustier. Once she was in there it hit that maybe the Librarian wouldn't like it if she was yelling at someone in a place that was supposed to be quiet, but no one ever came into the library so it's not like anyone was studying or needed it to be silent. The second thing that slammed into her, literally and figuratively (something pushed her forward and she stumbled, ignoring the pointed look Derek gave her and the high pitched tittering), was that her little ghost friend -she used that term loosely- might cause a scene.<p>

Derek leaned lazily against the bookcase. "Hm?"

Chloe felt her insides burning, they knew something and they were trying to make it as obvious as possibly without saying it outright. "I swear to _God_-"

The rarely seen Librarian decided to make her appearance then. She whipped her head around the corner of the bookcases and squinted her beady eyes at them. "Ms. Saunders and Mr. Souza," she shrilled, "I would very much like it if you two would please be silent in my library!" The Librarian's voice had raised an octave or two as she scolded them.

The duo just stared at her with distaste and nodded. She gave them one last look of accomplishment, obviously she thought she was hot stuff, and scurried off to find her next victim.

A creak beside Chloe made her turn. Derek had opened one of the ancient text book closets and he was trying not cough at the dust that had come out of the closed off room. She didn't even bother telling Derek that the book rooms were absolutely off limits for students. Obviously that rule had been thought of and enforced when students actually came to the library.

They stepped in the room, Derek being a complete and utter _gentleman_ -note the sarcasm- by waiting for her to go in before him. He stood outside the door a couple more seconds, his eyes darting around and his chin raised slightly. His posture had gone rigid, but he quickly relaxed into his lazy slouch as he shut the door and pulled at the string connected to the ligh bulb.

Derek raised an eyebrow and motioned for her to continue. Chloe ground her teeth together and let out an angry huff. "Alright, Souza. What's your issue?"

"Not sure what you mean, _Saunders_." He said her last name in a high pitched bubbly imitation of her voice.

Chloe stepped closer to him in the tiny space with a furious look on her face. The scene would have looked hilarious to anyone else. A tiny girl looking ferocious and a huge male with a teasing glint in his eyes. "You would have the nerve to make me even more upset than I already am."

He rolled his eyes and gave her a bored look. "If you're trying to intimidate me it's really not working." Derek yawned.

She sneered at him and clenched her fists. "What is a Necromancer? Why do you think I am one? What are you and your siblings?"

"Well, why don't we get straight into it then!" Derek exclaimed in fake excitement. He looked to the corner of the room and suddenly he got a conflicted look on his face. He looked at her with seriousness. "I know you see ghosts."

It felt like all the air had left Chloe's body and she let out a confused. "Oh."

Derek ignored her reaction completely and continued. "A Necromancer is someone who can communicate with ghosts. I'm not going to give you a text book description. You're going to have to look up yourself because that'd probably be for the better."

Chloe slumped into herself and flinched. Of course this would happen. Of course it would. She looked up at him with a pained expression, her eyes telling him to continue.

"As for what my siblings and me are?" He barked out a laugh. Chloe's eyes widened as he suddenly stood up and looked towards the door. She thought he was trying to weasel out of telling her but she heard the sound of pitter patters coming toward the door.

"Just our luck," Chloe mumbled nervously. She bit her lip and looked at Derek hard. He was going to freak out, but if someone found them in here they would get in serious trouble. Might as well do what all teenagers did.

"Derek? I'm going to need you to kiss me."

His head shot up and he looked shocked. He made no move towards her. Chloe scowled and pulled him down by the shirt. "Questions later." She spat out before putting her lips on his.

"The fuck?" Derek mumbled from between their lips. They stared at each other awkwardly. "They're almost here."

Chloe flinched, stood up on her tip toes and snaked her arms around Derek's neck. "At least act like you're into it."

Derek closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Chloe waist. They stood there for a few tense moments, lips pressed together, arms wrapped around one another, until the door was pushed open and another high school girl shrieked an "Omigod!" and slammed the door shut.

She and Derek shot apart, staring at each other. Chloe could hear the girl stammering out an excuse to the Librarian. If there was one thing the teenagers at this school didn't do, it was rat out other kids on where they were hooking up.

"Ok, continuing our conver-oopmh." Chloe was shocked when Derek pushed her against the wall. His arm rested above her head and she stared up at his face, knowing that her own was flushed. Her lips parted as if to say something to him.

Then all of a sudden Derek's lips were on hers; for real this time. His hands were in her hair and her hands were on his hips. Chloe's back was pressed against the wall and Derek's body was pressed on her. He tried to pull away from Chloe but she pulled him back and parted her lips against his. Derek let out a surprised noise and started to kiss her even harder.

A book fell off one of the shelves and they jumped apart from one another, chests heaving. Chloe heard the high pitched giggle and her eyes darted around the room. Her face burned red and Derek was avoiding eye contact.

Chloe opened her mouth to speak but she ducked her head instead. What had just happened? Obviously she initiated the first kiss but she was trying to save their asses. The second one though? That was all Derek. But why had she allowed him to do that? What exactly was going to happen now?

She gasped and realized something; it was something that could get her out of the room. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. "I-I-I...the baby. Lunch. I left her." Chloe moved to the door and stopped when she saw that Derek was right in front of it.

He moved out of her way silently, his hand on the back of his neck. "Yeah. Remember, look up Necromancer." He mumbled and winced when he made eye contact with Chloe.

Chloe opened the door and turned to stare at him. She shook her head and walked toward the cafeteria, not even noticing the disapproving look from the Librarian as she walked out.


	6. Chapter 6

**Oh, look I'm not dead. Sorry for not updating. I started dance camp and that goes from 8-3 so that pretty much kills me and on top of that I recently got into Supernatural and I kind of want to cry because it's so beautiful. **

**Oh look this chapter is with Derek. Yaaay. **

**Same warning as always. :-)  
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><p>One week.<p>

One week not talking to Chloe.

One week not taking care of Paisley.

One week full of Simon's pestering comments.

This one week had been nothing but hell for Derek Souza. Chloe and he had not been talking and Mr. Davidoff had taken a notice. They could be jeopardizing their grade for all he knows since Mr. Davidoff liked to pull weird things to grade on out of his ass.

Not only had Simon been on his back trying to figure out what happened when he and Chloe spoke to each other, Derek could also feel the change begin to take course in his body. God, when did he begin to sound like such a woman? 'Taking course in his body', it sounded like he was going through his monthly cycle or something. Well, technically...

Anyway, dealing with Simon was only one of his problems. Now he had Tori trying to squeeze it out of him too. Derek swears that if he wasn't so much bigger than Tori she would have already beat it out of him, or would have tried to at least.

And then of course on top of all of that is the whole wolf thing. Derek had begun to feel the anticipation and of course the overwhelming sense of dread. Sure, he enjoyed getting the whole thing over with, but leading up to the change is always the worse part. Derek already had welts running up and down his arms. He doesn't need the kids at school thinking he's into some fetish crap involving whips or something.

Then the cherry on top of all of that? Figuring out what to do about Chloe.

There was a knock on his door and as if he could read Derek's thoughts, Simon waltzed into the room with Tori following closely behind. They plopped down on his bed and fluttered their eyelashes at him, attempting to appear innocent.

"The answer is no." Derek mumbled without looking up from his homework. English, his f_avorite_ subject. He had been hunched over his desk for the past hour trying to write down the god awful poems they were working on in class.

Tori scowled at him and pursed her lips. "We weren't asking for your answer to our unasked question which you so rudely didn't let us ask. We just want to know why you and Chloe haven't been talking."

Simon nodded vigorously, looking like a bobble head. His blonde hair went flying, he hadn't cut it in a while and it was beginning to look unruly. "It must be something bad. She's been avoiding eye contact with all of us. Even me!"

"Would you shut up?" Tori snapped. She leaned backwards to grab two pillows, one to throw at Derek -who caught it with ease- and one to hit Simon in the back of the head with.

"You two are being really annoying." Derek spun around to face them and raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah well, so are you." She threw herself back on his bed and groaned. "Oh my god will you just tell us already?"

Derek thought about it for a second. If he told them they would leave him alone and they would stop pestering him every moment of the day, meaning he could actually get his homework done. Hell, maybe they could even talk to Chloe for him. He glanced at them thoughtfully and nodded. "Sure."

Tori shot up with a surprised look on her face. Simon bounced up and down on the bed. Derek could almost see all of the questions that were flying around in his head.

"Really?" Tori asked with a questioning tone.

Derek nodded again. "Yeah. I'll tell you. Just leave me alone when I'm done." They both agreed in hurriedly, ready for Derek to just get on with the story.

Simon gasped before Derek could even open his mouth. "You told her what we were!"

"Why didn't I think of that before...?" Tori murmured under her breath.

Derek sighed in an exaggerated way. "No, actually. I didn't get that far. I, uh, well, we..."

The duo sitting on the bed leaned forward at the same time, their faces expectant. "Well?" The asked simultaneously.

"Kissed."

The silence that filled the room told Derek exactly what he needed to know. They hadn't been expecting that at all. Tori and Simon exchanged a look before they both broke out laughing. Derek rolled his eyes and heaved out a big breath, waiting for their laughter to die down. It took a few minutes for that to actually happen and when it did Tori just kept snorting.

"Okay," She giggled, "What really happened?"

Derek just stared at them with a blank look on his face. He crossed his arms and leaned back. Hopefully in the next few seconds they would figure out that he was being completely serious. He wasn't going to spell it out for them, they could figure out whether or not he was being serious all by themselves. They were big kids. Big kids who were really kind of dumb for their age.

"Oh my god." Simon gaped at him like a fish out of water. "Tori he's not kidding."

She stopped giggling. "Oh. _Oh_."

"Yeah." Derek gnawed on the side of his cheek and told them how Chloe had kissed him first in an attempt to not get them in trouble, which it hadn't.

"So why is she mad at you? She kissed you. Not the other way around. Right?" Tori cocked her head and waited for Derek's answer.

She and Simon shared another look and then stared at Derek. "Oh my god." They said in unison.

"You kissed her!" Simon exclaimed; his eyes wide like a child's.

Derek nodded. "Yeah."

"But why?" Tori squeaked; her mouth was hidden behind her hand. She was trying not to laugh...again.

Derek stood up and started pacing. His pencil started to roll off the desk and he caught it. "Well, the wolf-"

Tori groaned. "Oh hell, really Derek?"

He glared at her. "Yes, really. Don't be a bitch."

"You know, if I didn't know you didn't lie about that kind of stuff, I'd think you were completely idiotic." She smirked. "Really though, your wolf side is almost as bad as Simon's imaginary friend."

Simon's cheeks went pink. "Shut up, I got rid of him years ago."

Tori rolled her eyes and stood up, pulling Simon by the back of his shirt. "C'mon." She pushed him out the door and turned around to look at Derek. "You're going to have to talk to her sooner or later."

"Shut up Tori." Derek growled.

She just continued down the hallway. "Oh and Derek? I'm not a bitch!" She sang out.

Derek threw himself down on the bed. "Oh my god. _Shut up_ _Tori_."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/n: Yes, I'm aware of how short this. Yes, I am aware that I have not updated for four months and writing this short chapter does not make up for it. Trust me, I'm kicking myself in the ass right now as I post it. I feel awful for not being able to give you anything better and I hope you accept this apology. The end of this chapter should hold a little surprise though. Expect a better update within the coming week. Thank you for being patient with me even though I don't deserve it. **

**Same warnings apply. **

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><p>So to say the least, after Chloe had stormed out of the library book closet she went home and had a full blown panic attack. Hyperventilating, shaky sweaty palms, pounding headaches, and well, you know the works. Her Aunt Lauren had barely walked in the front door before she stumbled over her teenage niece who had her head on her knees and was shaking like a leaf.<p>

Lauren shut the door and slid down the wall to sit next to Chloe. "Chloe, what's wrong? The last time you left school early and I found you like this you had started your period and you were madder than anything." She paused when she saw that Chloe was looking at her with tear stained cheeks. "Okay, most definitely not mad."

Chloe let out a laugh that was completely devoid of humor. "Oh, no, I'm mad. Mad and embarrassed and confused and high school sucks."

"Heh, I understand that. I'll have to tell you some stories of mine later. C'mon Chlo, tell me what's wrong." Lauren softened her voice and grabbed Chloe's hand.

Chloe groaned and banged her head on the wall hard enough for Lauren to wince. "He knows, oh god, he knows."

"Wait, what?" Lauren stood up and held her hands out for her niece to grab on to.

With an annoyed sigh, Chloe pulled herself up and looks Lauren straight in the eye. "You know." Her voice sounded strange, almost robotic.

Lauren's eyes widened and she pressed her lips together. "Oh, _oh_." She played with Chloe's hands, trying to calm her down.

"Yeah, he knows and he told me I was a, oh what was it, um a Necromancer?" At the word Chloe paled even though it came from her own mouth.

"A...Necromancer?" Lauren goes still and grabs Chloe's chin. "Who is this he?"

Chloe sighed and gently pulled her chin away. "Derek Souza, my partner who is helping me with Paisley."

Lauren stared at her niece with an odd expression on her face. Chloe could see the calculating look in her eyes that she got when she was thinking really hard about something. It looked like her aunt was thinking about whatever it was really hard and she couldn't quite find the right words to say. The last time Chloe had seen Lauren think this hard about something was when she had been trying to tell Chloe that her father was going on a business for a long time and would not be back anytime soon. To be completely honest? Chloe was starting to get shaky again at the thought that her aunt was possibly hiding something from her.

Aunt Lauren on the other hand was having a hard time placing the name of the kid Chloe was working with. She knew she had heard the name before and it was eating away at her not being able to tell who he was. It was on the tip of her tongue because she had a feeling she had talked about him to someone years prior and she was biting the inside of her cheek raw right in front of Chloe just thinking about it.

And then it hit her harder than a ton of bricks.

"Chloe?" Lauren's hesitated, almost as if she was afraid to ask her question.

Chloe stared at her and shook her head, hopefully thinking she would be told later of what her aunt was thinking of. "Yeah?"

"Go into the kitchen and look up the word that the boy told you. My computer should be on the counter. I just realized I had a business phone call I needed to make." Lauren nudged Chloe in the direction of the kitchen and Chloe just nodded and obeyed her aunt's request.

Lauren walked into the family room, a troubled expression her face, and pulled out her cell phone. She dialed a number she thought she would never use again and took a few deep breaths as the phone started ringing. Soon enough she heard a chipper man on the other line give a happy sounding hello.

"Yes, Kit? Why was I uninformed that your son was working with my niece."


End file.
